Definitely one of their masterworks. It goes way deeper than you might think....It's heavily influenced by a mathematical sequence of numbers known as the Fibonacci Number Sequence. The sequence goes as follows... 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ... The next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it. Interestingly, this can also be plotted out graphically, as a spiral...and not just ANY spiral...but a very specific one, which can be found literally everywhere in nature...for example, the curl in a chameleon's tail, the seed pattern in the middle of a sunflower (and many other plants follow this spiral as well) , to the way hurricanes are shaped, allll the way up to the Spiral Arms of our Milky Way Galaxy. You called the opening verse, Maynard is describing the beginning of life, and the process of gaining vision, at fist everything is black, then you are born and slowly contrast becomes necessary to discern, so whites come into play, more like light vs dark...and then once our light receptors (Rods) are formed in the retina, Cones begin to develop, and the first 'colors' we see are in the longer wavelength of light, and so reds and yellows. BUT, check this out Black (1) Then (1) White are (2) All I see (3) In my Infancy (5) Red and yellow then came to be (8) Reaching out to me (5) Let's me see (3) (its an ascending and desceding Fibonacci number sequence going by syllables, also, just like a spiral, growing larger, then shrinking) and again with the bridge As below, so above and beyond, I imagine (13) Drawn beyond the lines of reason (8) Push the envelope, (5) watch it bend (3) This song also has three general time signatures within the 'main chorus' section, one in 9, then in 8 and then in 7....987 is one of the numbers in the Fibonacci Sequence. In the end, this song attempts (and succeeds) in highlighting the interconnectedness of all and everything, as below, so above. From the twist in our double helix DNA to the very shape and form of our galaxy, the pattern runs through it all. After making this point, he urges us to embrace our humanity, To feel inspired , To fathom the power, To witness the beauty, To bathe in the fountain...to live life as a human, but still be aware of our oneness with the entirety of reality, our Divinity. The song ends with a strong and clear message to open yourself up to the universe, and to enjoy the ride while we are here. And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been Spiral out, keep going :0) If i missed anything folks can leave a comment reply...but i think i got the basics covered. Again....its truly a friggin masterpiece of art, thought, music and humanity. THIS is why Tool is the best band on earth :0d imho.
@@ettsn Well thank you, that's very kind of you to say. Tool's been my top fav for many years and I loooove digging as deep as i can into things, especially their music and lyrics. When Jamel asked for someone to do a quick explainer, all my gears starting turning furiously...steam whistles going off...the whole nine yards! lolol But thanks for that, I appreciate it. :0)
One needs to listen to this song four times. Once to listen to the words. Once to listen to the music. Once to listen to both together. and another with the repeat button on lock.
This is how it goes. You hear this song for the first time and think wow what a unique and powerful song. Then somebody tells you everything behind it. You then listen to it again and your mind is blown.
I don't think there is a more meticulously crafted song in all of music. Masterpiece. It literally changed my life as a kid and helped me to always think more in terms of the collective instead of the individual; to hope for real ascension and fulfilling our potential as a species.
Danny Carey's work in this song is incredible (drummer). My favourite Maynard lyrics. Favourite Tool song and one of the best pieces of music ever written. There's nothing like that 3 minute buildup to the drop at 9:25. Unreal.
Tool has grown from those days into the magic they are now. Opiate, Undertow, Aenima were the "angry" and "pissed" days of the band. From Aenima they evolved into a more serious and spiritual and even mystic thing.
Ah, Lateralus! I wrote a whole damn paper on this song in high school lol. Epic epic track! It also follows the fibbonaci sequence in its lyrical delivery and meter!
what a classic religious tool fan. They're good but they seem limited in their creativity. As in... it's like they're painting pictures with the same 3 colours all the time. I need more melodic variation personally. I get the appeal with the hypnotic rhythms and long songs though - I was a massive fan a decade ago. The breakdown in the middle of this song is peak tool.
In my humble opinion.....given how it was written (in reference to the fibonacci sequence), matching mathematical rhythms, poly rythms, time signatures, instrumentation and then lyrics.....quite feasibly one of the greatest songs ever written. That song would be PHENOMENAL with no lyrics at all, and the lyrics could stand alone as AMAZING poetry. Gonna be sad to see these guys go.....because there will NEVER be another band like tool. So unique. Just splendid.
MrShabbyTiger ... it’s also a reference to the spiritual beliefs of the aboriginals, and their “dream walking” beliefs and cosmology, black and white then red and yellow are very important to their beliefs of the creation of the universe. This is taken from a webpage talking about the significance of the colors in their artwork: Sacred Colours The sacred Aboriginal colours, said to be given to the Aborigines during the Dreamtime, are Black, Red, Yellow and White. Black represents the earth, marking the campfires of the dreamtime ancestors. Red represents fire, energy and blood - 'Djang', a power found in places of importance to the Aborigines. Yellow represents water, and the markings on the back of the great snake ancestor (see our last blog on the Rainbow Serpent Myths). White represents the sky and stars, which are filled with the Aborigines ancestors who returned to the sky after creating the earth. This is taken from www.aboriginalartuk.com/post/2017/11/21/aboriginal-culture-scared-colours ... which also has great examples of the aboriginal artwork which specifically uses those four colors. Check it out!
Yep. It's a song about being continually open to experience, being continually in the moment, and being willing to see where Life and the universe takes you
It also means the colors of all my relations meaning humans. Native American Indian culture in which he lives in the SW of America New Mexico or Arizona where Natives are predominate.
It also is a reference to as an infant you can only see black and white...then after a few weeks of growth, red and yellow become visible and then all the other colors. Maynard is a master at layered meaning.
I saw the lateralus tour...it was amazing. This song KICKED ASS!! From 9:30 to 10:45 was what TOOL fans call a "Toogasm" I'm so grateful to have heard it live. SPIRAL OUT...KEEP GOING!
The fact that you appreciate this music man..... brings great joy to my heart. Music is the life that compliments the rhythm of our heart beat. I commend you my friend.
Watching you sing along to music I've enjoyed for so long makes me happy. Tool - Reflection A song that made me pick my self up when I thought I couldn't. Wings for Marie - Parts 1 and 2 together I do not trust, or wish to associate with, a person who does not at least get choked up listening to this masterpiece. There are worse ways to pick your friends lol
Man, this album dude! It came out when I was like14, which is an impressionable enough age in itself, but I was also just getting into heavy metal (starting with rage against the machine a year and a half prior) and had started learning to play guitar a few months before it came out. The Lateralus tour a year later was my second concert ever and the first one I paid money to see... my dad insisted I needed a chaperone so he bought a ticket as well despite never hearing their music before, and called it one of the best live shows he’d ever seen (out of dozens if not over a hundred). All of that left a pretty big impression on me, but not as much as 3 years ago when I was in midst of a manic episode (bipolar, quit taking meds) and become reasonably convinced that the album contained the meaning of life, infinite knowledge, the secrets of the universe, etc. There were a lot of synchronicities and while I’m no longer in that moderately delusional mindset, it’s still a sort of bible for me. Really does “make you use your brain” I definitely agree on that one, man. Great reaction. 👍
The lyric structure is based on the Fibonacci Sequence. Black (1) Then (1) White are (2) All I see (3) In my infancy (5) Red and yellow then came to be (8) Reaching out to me (5) Lets me see (3) Look up the song on wiki
It was not "based" on it, it was probably just the Fibonacci Sequence naturally occurring as it usually does... Maynard most probably didn't put much thought into it and intuitively felt that that was the right way to sing the lyrics...
Jamal, you really want to watch the video explaining how they wrote this song based on the Fibonacci sequence, so damn interesting. This band is full of pleasant surprises.
Maynard has 2 other bands. All 3 bands kinda reflect different facets of Maynard's psyche. Tool is primal, guttural and intense. A Perfect Circle is melodic, emotional, and passionate. Puscifer is sexual, humorous, and silly at times. Definitely do some reactions to APC and Puscifer.
APC (Tool Lite for people who can't appreciate Tool) & Puscifer (MJK's vanity "because I can and people will buy it" project) prevented us from getting more Tool albums, imo. "Bah!" & "Feh!" says I.
Smudgie If (or when) he does Rosetta Stoned, it would be highly recommended that he does Lost Keys first.. "Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)" RIGHT INTO "Rosetta Stoned," (You see what I did there;) he might get a little bit of a better understanding of Rosetta Stoned as opposed to doing Rosetta Stoned by itself. It's kind of understood that Lost Keys ALWAYS goes with Rosetta Stoned.. But I certainly agree, lyrics are mandatory.. He'll get lost without them. On that note; SPIRAL OUT !!!
@@robertshulenberger IMO he should find some way to do them as a single review. Hm... they aren't readily separable if you've ever experienced nutbag letters stuffed in your mailbox in the Southwest US. Just bite the bullet and do the whole thing at once, all the way through. Anyone who actually cares about the reaction (like us) will totally watch the whole thing, even the "boring" parts.
Looks like you're ready for the holy trinity, "disposition, reflection and triad" 3 of them together by Tool. Oh and show some love to your followers from the South Pacific nation of New Zealand and have a watch/listen to the official video for Kaitangata by Alien Weaponry.
Hell yeah on Alien Weaponry, Im form NZ and feel like a proud dad when I see videos these of guys playing live to big crowds, especially seeing foreign fans singing in Te Reo
Thank you so very much for digesting this song in your own unique way. My initial reaction to it was a supreme state of spiritual overwhelm. Even after all these years, hearing this song makes me feel things and I’m grateful for it, and for you to share it with many new people.
As a fractal artist this song is particularly meaningful and amazing! thanks for introducing me to this band, Jamel! I had been very out of touch with the music world for a long time but you have brought me back to my first love. Music!
The colors are a metaphor, using the idea of vision improving as an infant, to be symbolic of increa sing knowledge and understanding. There is a video that someone made as a class project that breaks down the song a bit. It is worth a watch.
I have been surfing around on different reaction vid channels and stumbled on here. I started watching your Tool vid playlist and I love the way you have the lyrics in front of you and the music makes you want to sing by the end of the song. Even though you don't know the song you are trying to sing a long by the end. Welcome to the Tool Army...glad to have you... keep digging. Spiral out brother...
All aboard the magical train ride Tool creates for you my Brother! It takes you on a journey from our own beginnings and escalates in power & volume just like many of our lives do? Maynards ability to be breezy and light or crashing with powerful vocals blended with that amazing accompaniment of hard riffs & drums almost hides that powerful bass line that lurks just under the surface! I love how Tool can slowly build up in a song, then switch to quick & thunderous powerful crashing beats by Danny Carey's drums only to transition again back and forth to smooth & easy grooves! Great pick & reaction once again. Happy New Year & hope it is another successful year for you. Keep up the good work. Wondering when you are going to checkout another phenomenal artist? He is known as "Buckethead" and is in my humble opinion the greatest guitarist on the planet. His material is massive and breathtaking!
Nobody ever ties these together but I truly believe he’s also talking about spiral dynamics. It’s a model for physiological reason. It’s a color coded model. A color progression of growth. Check into it.
OMG when Jamal stopped it and says, " he talking about kids?!" I spit my coffee everywhere. I wasn't sure where he was going with that. Glad he explained himself there though. LOL
Me too lol. I thought "Oh no... Please don't". Luckily he went in the right direction. He might not have understood the whole meaning behind the song, which is normal if you haven't had time to take it all in, but he did interpret parts of it well
Maynard leaving his bitter angry phase and looking for deeper meaning in life.. Apparently a lot of fans didn’t like that and when an interviewer asked him about it he told them to go listen to his early work bc he didn’t want to be that angry, bitter person anymore. It’s kind of a shift you have to make if you don’t want to die young, or worse become some angry over the hill asshole. Reminds me of something I told my ex bf. We’d had a fcked up relationship fueled by drugs & alcohol. I got pregnant and got my shit together, which included leaving him. He then went into a downward spiral. He ended up with a crazy gf (crazier then I ever was, she literally put him in the hospital with stab wounds) and a heroin addiction. But he was in his 30’s now and I told him he’d either die or become that creepy old dude who we always saw at parties. That guy you’d always think to yourself that you’d rather die then be that guy. 60 years old, living in a room house who got alcohol bc he’d go buy it for the underage kids who’d hook him up for buying it. Fortunately my ex got clean. If you look at artists who don’t try and find peace, who stay the same, they don’t do well. Most of them die young.
I love the transition and progression of Maynard's outlook on life. He went from bitter to angry to philosophical and eventually to beautifully sad mixed with a kind of love and acceptance (10,000 Days). I haven't thoroughly listened to Fear Inoculum yet, so I don't have an opinion of where I think he might be mentally now. I'm happy to hear you got through that part of your life. I had a somewhat similar 5 year relationship. It's like having a giant anxiety filled weight lifted off my back
LiveAction Link most of fear inoculum is about finding your inner youth and strength (invincible), and using it to push forward through hardship and toxicity (descending, fear inoculum) while reminding yourself that we're all human and that's all that matters (pneuma). culling voices and 7empest are separate from that story though
One of the best ways to stop an addiction is seeing yourself turning into "that guy" . That's as real as it gets. You can see it, you can grasp it, it's real.
LiveAction Link I’ve been listening to Fear Inoculum as well and still trying to digest it and see what I think about it. It’s a tricky balance for artists bc great art seems to come from misery and angst. It’s interesting how that works. I often wonder if some maybe subconsciously choose to die when they hit that point where they have to stop and get help or spiral into the depths. Idk it’s tough bc fans can be brutal. I’m also glad Maynard found some modicum of happiness. I feel some of my own life reflected in his. His music has often been the soundtrack to my life, ever since I discovered Tool & APC. I’ve also really enjoyed some of the experimental stuff he did in Pusifer. Like humbling river. I really like that song. Anyways I remember that day I moved into my tiny, mostly unfurnished apt with my baby. I was sad bc I still loved my bf & he was punishing me for leaving him by refusing to talk to me. But when I woke up with my baby girl I felt like a weight had been removed from my shoulders. Ever since I’d given birth my bf had been trying to tempt, cajole, & pressure me into getting fcked up. It was tough for me bc I still had the tendencies but I was breastfeeding & wasn’t willing to risk my baby. It wasn’t overnight but I’ve managed to work through a lot of that lingering desire for drugs. My kid is my life & she’s given me a motivation, a purpose I never had.
I HAVE THE DOCUMENTS -for sure. There are addicts that are revolting and you want to be as far away from what they are as possible. Still I feel like it takes more often. Healthy ppl don’t become addicts. So on some level being able to figure out and deal with what’s causing that need to escape is necessary. Not that I’ve done a great job at that. More like I stuffed it in a box and sealed it away. But I will eventually have to deal with it. I still have that lingering desire and I’ve found that shit can manifest in new and unpleasant ways. My older sister works with experts in brain science and she’s been teaching me a lot. It’s fascinating bc you could almost map out what would happen to me and my sister based on the traumas we suffered as kids. There’s changes to the brain that are devastating to future health & happiness. Knowing what I know now makes me see the world differently and my innate desire to protect children is increased. I now listen to Maynard’s work through various bands and can see how he’s worked through his pain, his trauma. His music seems to mirror his own evolution and that’s very cool. There’s also a book I read called “Chasing The Scream: The First & Last Days Of The Drug War” that really started my understanding of addiction. It’s not just about the insane and fcked up beginnings of the drug war, it’s also touches on the science of addiction. It’s an amazing and infuriating book.
I love Tool and I am immensely enjoying watch you unravel the layers as it seeps into your soul as an unrecognized earworm! Tool forever! Just don't make us wait another 20 years for new work!
Here's a little tid-bit. The song is 9 minutes and 24 seconds long. That makes the mid-point of the song fall at 4 minutes 42 seconds. The lyric that falls exactly on that mid-point is "Reaching out to embrace the random. Reaching out to embrace whatever may come." So that lyric is the passage between the first half of the song (our present situation and short-comings) and the second half of the song (our potential and the path to enlightenment). To transcend our present state (the first half of the song) and reach our potential (the second half of the song) we must pass through that transition and reach out to embrace the randomness of the universe and embrace whatever may come. These guys are freaking wizards!
I believe the first lyrics also fall on a Fibonacci derived number as well (97 seconds or approximately 1.618 minutes - The Golden Ratio). Also, the introduction section of the song is 01:12 long (0, 1, 1, 2 are the first four numbers in the sequence)
Soooo recent sub and huge Tool fan here, I know this is an older video and you prob won't see this but YOU ARE THE FIRST person that caught and spoke about the lyrics about how vision develops in an infant!!! Everyone always focuses on the fibonacci, which is cool, but THANK YOU!
I think the "infancy" that is being referred to here is that of a spiritual infancy. That things are binary in the sense that there are only two options. Then as time passes other avenues present themselves and suddenly there are infinite possibilities.
Brett Marlar I don’t necessarily disagree with you here, but I wouldn’t limit that to only spiritual. There can be much deeper meanings to these lyrics, including in time, evolution/human development, child like vision and spirituality, etc. There are a LOT of layers to all of their music, including to the developments in the rhythm and everything of their music and some of the member’s views about that.
R. Nashoba also love the back story about how the track came to be. The record executives told Tool they needed a harder song(for radio play) on the album. First off don’t tell Tool what to do...lol. So they did Ticks n Leeches. But the best part is they made it soooo long so it couldn’t be played on the radio as executives wanted. They trolled the execs. But Maynard really hurt his voice on that song w all the screams(or so I’ve researched).
